I originally started on a system that was either assemble/machine language... or you could type in the ‘basic’ language.. only i/o was cassette tape. (basic).. Of course, we had 8 inch drives back then.. but not available publicly (and I was 10yo.. what did I know ;)
I worked for DEC and remember people telling stories like yours. Lol.
But I bet it paid off for you. You probably rode “the wave” all the way from the beginning to now.
I first started in the early 80s and the IBM PC. I wrote term papers on my parents old Apple IIe.
My wife and I bought our first PC, a 286, and word perfect, lotus 123, in 1988 for $2000! It took us a while to pay it off but it was worth it. My wife was going to college at the time.